How to Keep the Weight Off (and Manage Stress!) This Holiday Season

It's the most challenging time of the year—a time when all willpower tends to go out straight out the window. Between cocktail parties, holiday cookie baking, and a decreased amount of free time to hit the gym due to all those aforementioned fêtes, many of us find it difficult to battle the bulge come fall. So we turned to the ultimate healthy living experts, Whitney Tingle and Danielle DuBoise, co-founders of feel-good organic food delivery service Sakara Life. If anyone knows how to master the art of balance, it's these two blonde beauties. Ahead, Tingle and DuBoise (pictured below) share their tips on avoiding holiday weight gain—without missing out on cocktail hour.

What's the secret to indulging while still keeping that balance this time of year?We stick to a clean lifestyle as often as possible—it's our baseline. But we are also the first at the table to grab for the French fries and martinis, and we know that holidays are a time for enjoying these indulgences with the people we love! What we've learned is that by eating a plant-based, superfood diet the majority of the time, your body can handle these treats.

Courtesy Sakara Life

To work off those extra sugar cookies and all that eggnog, do you recommend changing your fitness routine in the holiday months?The winter is a period for reflection, grounding, and introspective, so we often find ourselves naturally craving exercise that mirrors that. Yoga is obviously a perfect match for that, even if it's just breathwork and sun salutations first thing in the morning. Then if we're still looking to get our sweat on, we head to The Class with our soul sister Taryn Toomey.

What else can we do to avoid that dreaded holiday weight gain?Load up your plate with greens at every single meal! Not only will this ensure you're getting all the essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids you need to power you through these long winter days, but they also do wonders for your skin, hydrating you on a deep cellular level. All clients on our program eat 4 to 8 cups of greens a day and it is definitely what helps give them that signature Sakara glow. Pair these greens with superfoods; that'll give you a lot of bang for your buck (aka keeping you fuller longer). Also, drink plenty of mineral water and teas between meals to help satiate any emotional snacking that creeps in midday.

The Sakara Life fall menu is packed with so many yummy seasonal ingredients--what are the benefits to eating seasonally?We are all about eating seasonally, and fall has some of our favorite goodies from Mother Nature. Pears and apples are amazing fall fruits that are packed with fiber, water, and vitamin C, and that you can mix in any meal any time of the day. We also love all kinds of squash, like butternut, acorn, kabocha ... they contain beta-carotene, which your body converts to vitamin A and uses to build that strong immune system, you'll be needing as the seasons change. Pair these guys with warming spices, like cinnamon, turmeric, ginger and cardamom, and you're sending your body some solid anti-inflammatory, detoxifying love!

Whenever we feel like our bodies need some deep cleansing, we truly stick to the Sakara Life program with no snacking in between meals, no alcohol, and no dessert (no, not even chocolate). The nutritionally designed, plant-based meals plus our Beauty and Night waters and daily cups of Detox Tea work wonders on helping boost our bodies' natural detoxifying abilities, which does wonders for hitting the reset button!

What's the best way to managing stress as we enter into the busy holiday season?First of all, don't try and be superwoman—outsource things to experts to make your lives easier. When demands are high, we outsource our laundry, cleaning, and even exercise, and we try to provide that to as many people as possible with our Organic Meal Delivery Program. Second ... turn up the volume on love. Love your life, love your family, love yourself, love your food, love your body. We swear this is the secret behind the sexy bodies Sakara has helped build from coast to coast.